As Halina rides up to our almost-finished Mara house on her Ethiopian pony, I pause and consider our family story, and how it has brought us to living here, on the edge of the greatest wildlife location on earth. Our home looks out over the great plains that stretch south across 10,000 square miles of Africa’s best. A region that has drawn Masai pastoralists, safari guides and carnivore biologists alike over recent centuries. Glancing from Oliver to the Masai school children nearby it strikes me that they will also play their part in the future of this great land.

We’ve just had the satellite internet connected so now I can sit at my desk looking at the giraffes and zebras outside my window and plan out next year’s expeditions and safaris. And while I tap out emails to friends and colleagues around the globe I’m reminded that gathering the family around the hearth (or the giraffes!) here at home is the most fulfilling of all feelings; shared equally by us and our Masai neighbors.